


selfishly i auditioned

by EndingsNotTheStory



Series: prior to it all [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, New Dangan Ronpa V3 Spoilers, POV Akamatsu Kaede, POV Third Person, Pre-Canon, Pre-Game Akamatsu Kaede, Pre-Game Personalities (New Dangan Ronpa V3), Spoilers, bleak outlook on life, kaede's mother, this is a bit more angst than initially anticipated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28627239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndingsNotTheStory/pseuds/EndingsNotTheStory
Summary: "Why did you audition""I am perfect for a killing game, I don't have any faith in humanity."---------aka Kaede's lead-up to the audition of the 53rd Danganronpa game
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Saihara Shuichi
Series: prior to it all [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097816
Kudos: 2





	selfishly i auditioned

* * *

* * *

Kaede Akamatsu’s first introduction to Danganronpa was when she was in class and the boy next to her would not stop talking about it.

Alright. That wasn’t entirely true. The series was commercialized all over. She would walk by televisions and see the new season being promoted. Everywhere. That damn show plagued her wherever she went.

Then came the boy next to her. Shuichi Saihara was not known by name, more like the kid who utilized Danganronpa as his main personality trait. She had gone all throughout her first year hearing the kid’s name, but never meeting him. It wasn’t until her second year when she slammed open the door to her room and surveyed the kids around her when she saw him. He was slouched over a mobile phone, chin in his hand as he wore a dark hoodie. She averted her eyes and just waltzed into the room, grabbing a chair before throwing her bag down next to her. 

She made the decision to scan around the room, to see if she knew anyone and just to get a lay of the land. She knew no one.

“Now I am sorry but I have made assigned seats,” the teacher’s voice rang out among the crowd. Everyone in the class let out a groan while the teacher ushered them to get “up up.”

Kaede tuned out what the teacher was saying, choosing instead to scroll through her phone. Although opening it and swiping back and forth between pages on the home screen was more accurate for what she was doing.

“Akamatsu, Kaede Akamatsu,” her teacher called only for her to look around and survey the room, she was not necessarily even paying attention to whatever the teacher was discussing and where she was within the classroom of seats. 

She was in the back row, as she huffed, and trudged over there and sat down.

No longer paying attention, she instead decided to pull her attention to looking out the window. She started staring off into space, looking around at the birds flying when suddenly a cough was heard to the left of her.

She turned and there he was, Shuichi Saihara, holding out his hand to her.

“My name is Shuichi Saihara, nice to meet you,” he stated firmly as Kaede finally had a chance to finally see what all the hype was about.

The boy looked pretty boring, his hair flat except for the strand on top of his head sticking straight up. He held in his other hand a phone with dangling charms. She noticed the bear as the mascot of Danganronpa.

She rolled her eyes, concluding that he was not worth her time, but with his hand still extended to hers and his breathing becoming more erratic, she decided to abide him and shook his hand lightly. “Pleasure.”

* * *

* * *

The next few weeks all she could hear was the boy talking about Danganronpa. It was all he seemed to ever think about. Even when he had headphones in, she heard the distinct blaring of the theme playing through them. It was all he ever seemed to listen to. He would try to get her to talk about the show. But she couldn't care less. Why watch people dying for the sake of entertainment? She surmised that it was really an encapsulation of what society had become. Just watching things for entertainment instead of focusing on their own lives.

In retrospect, the boy to the left of her was not so different from anyone else. If one took away all of the Danganronpa merch and ramblings, he would seem to be a good guy. Kaede always let out a scoff whenever he mentioned the show. How could someone allow this boy to talk about the show for so long?

“I style my hair with the ahoge so I can look like a character from the show,” he explained to a girl in class. Kaede gave a quick glance only to see the girl walking back slowly and laughing awkwardly at that. Kaede just shrugged, Shuichi Saihara was definitely not worth her time.

Regardless of her never wanting to give any attention to him, she did seem to see him an awful lot. She saw him in the hallways at times. He always seemed to be followed by a boy with purple hair, who looked at Shuichi like he had hung the moon.

Kaede however, did not spare any more glances than she had to.

* * *

* * *

She finally managed to trail into her own house, the sound of piano music being tarnished rang out throughout the house. She grimaced before throwing off her shoes and trying to walk to her bedroom as quickly as she could.

Of course the one day that she had forgotten her headphones was the day her mother turned away from the piano to look at her. She smiled when she saw Kaede but she wasn’t impressed, Kaede saw the slight hesitation, how her own mother’s lips flickered down into a frown for a split second.

“Hello sweetie, do you like the performance?”

“Yes mother.” The response was on autopilot. She glanced at the floor where another trophy had been seemingly smashed onto the ground, pieces of the plastic seemingly burned away and seeping into the floor.

“I have homework,” her monotone voice rang out. Before her mother gave a wicked smile before nodding “you go do that sweetie,” before the banging on the piano commenced once more.

Attempting to keep her footsteps at a steady pace, Kaede went silently through the door to her room and shut it, before throwing her bag down haphazardly and grabbing the tangled headphones on the desk.

Without bothering to untangle the headphones, she jabbed the plug into her phone. Before she realized what she was doing she was suddenly on YouTube, and proceeding to look up “Narumi Akamatsu” and taking a deep breath, pressed enter.

The sound of the piano banging downstairs persisted as the videos loaded. Before suddenly showing Kaede yet again a screen she was familiar with. Her mother’s name with titles of her piano pieces played. She scrolled through, knowing exactly which one she wanted to hear.

She felt frustrated tears welling up in her eyes, as she started to mutter “where is it where is it.”

Until suddenly, she found it. She clicked on the link quickly before sending her to the link.

The video title popped up as the video automatically began to play.

“Narumi Akamatsu, Clair de Lune.”

The video opened to a large stage, with a piano in the center. Before a woman with blonde hair steps out in a red dress, proceeding to stand up to a microphone.

“The performance of this piece is dedicated to my lovely husband and daughter. Kaede I know you can do amazing things, and I hope you are watching with your father on this glorious night. Thank you for letting me perform on such a stage. It is an honor to be able to do this, when I was a little girl I did not know that me playing a small baby piano could lead into a career that I love and cherish with my whole heart. With that being said, I will be playing Debussy’s Clair de Lune. I hope you enjoy it.”

Kaede smiled, looking at her mother, before her eyes automatically darted to the suggested videos. Narumi loses all semblance of how to play. Narumi scandal. Narumi injury in hands. Narumi drug addiction. Narumi Narumi Narumi. 

Kaede choked on her own breath before quickly enlarging the screen on the video she was watching, allowing her mother’s playing of Clair de Lune fill her ears as she closed her eyes. Allowing Clair de Lune to be the only thing she could hear, until the banging of the piano downstairs would eventually cease for the night, and her mother’s cries would begin.

* * *

* * *

Waking up to a banging sound from the door, Kaede quickly trailed down the hallway, only to see her mother passed out on the piano. She sighed before opening the door, only to see the tenant on the other side.

“I am sorry miss Akamatsu, but you are behind on your rent payments. I assume your mother has gotten them notice, yes? Your mother seems lovely and I wish to not have to evict you guys. I hope things are going alright.”

There it was. A fake smile. The man smiled brightly but Kaede just narrowed her eyes. The smile was too big for such a situation. He was paid to do this. She put on a fake smile of her own though and smiled at the man. 

“Yes she has gotten them. So sorry about that.”

The man smiled at her again. That stupid fake smile. 

“By the way, I am afraid I have gotten a few noise complaints, so I would recommend turning it down,” before quickly trailing away before Kaede managed to get a word even if she wanted to.

She watched as the man vanished from her line of vision before closing the door so as to not wake her mother, and began rummaging through her house for the notice.

After what felt like hours of searching, she found it buried beneath stacks of piano sheet music. She opened the letter and looked at the price. 55000 yen for the rent this month. Holding the paper and biting her tongue lightly, she went back into her room.

Flopping down onto her bed she quickly went online, and went onto the bank’s website before logging in. That was when she saw it. 6000 yen. 6000 in the account. Her eyes widened as she logged into other accounts. Any other account. Nothing in the other accounts. She immediately thought about the credit card. But already so much money was used on it and she doubted it would be useful. Kaede hadn’t worked a day in her life herself and her mother had not worked in years either.

Before thinking about it, she opened her contacts to the one that said “father.”

From Kaede: Hello dad. I was wondering if you could send us any money? The rent payment is due and I am not sure what to do in this situation. Any help is appreciated.

She hit send, allowing it to tally up with the rest of the messages she has sent to her father. Similar wording, same message.

But this time she hoped it was different. She hoped her father might message her back.

* * *

* * *

Days passed and no message appeared. She was now once again spaced out in class, still looking at the message she sent her dad. One day she would stop looking at them. Or maybe she thought that if she looked hard enough a message would appear.

“Are you auditioning for Danganronpa?”

She kept focusing on her phone, mentions of Danganronpa when Shuichi was still next to her were basically a daily occurrence. Hell, even an hourly occurrence.

“Of course, they rejected me last year but this year for sure.”

“Well I may audition as well. The prize money seems pretty tempting at least.”

At that Kaede placed her phone down and spared a glance at the people next to her.

Sitting on Shuichi’s desk was a girl with her hair in two green pigtails with a large green bow in her hair. Shuichi looked down as he talked more about Danganronpa. Kaede heard him vaguely mentioning his plans for the audition this time.

“What did you say about prize money,” she interjected before Shuichi could finish. The boy looked up at her in wonder while the girl scoffed.

“Yeah, there is a prize for the winners of the killing game. 500000 yen.”

500000\. Kaede’s head was spinning. That could pay it. That could keep them afloat for at least a couple more months while she figured out what to do.

“How do I audition?”

Shuichi smirked, “there is an open audition in three days. But also you shouldn’t just audition for the prize money. See there is an art to the killing game. I have kept a journal of all methods of killing that have ever been used. I have devised a foolproof plan--”

The boy continued on but at that point Kaede did not care. She got the information she needed. Three days. She turned to her phone and started googling. Maybe the killing game wasn’t so useless after all.

“Besides you wouldn’t even last. I have the knowledge on how to win.”

She glared at him at that. She felt her blood beginning to boil before she looked straight ahead. He was not worth her time. She folded her arms and looked like she had paid the most attention in school than she had in years. In reality, she was just coming up with whatever she had to say to get in.

* * *

* * *

Three days later Kaede was ushered into a dark room by a man in an all black suit and sunglasses, seemingly straight out of a Men in Black film. The waiting room was considerably filled with people. It was interesting how many people were even interested in either dying or killing. She smiled a bit. She could do this.

She quickly introduced herself. They asked some of the most mundane questions she had ever heard, such as age and schooling. She answered them diligently, and did her best to put a quirk in her voice. Kaede could play up the sweet girl facade if she wished, knowing she was even good at it. She just hoped they would not ask her any questions about the history of the game. 

Of course, Kaede had tried to watch the show. But gave up almost an episode in. The concept was so boring and the characters were always stock characters. Nothing ever was spiced up and the game over the years had become routine. Something catered to the fans, just so then a young school child could walk around with his Monokuma themed plushie or collect mini figures of all the characters.

“Final question, why should we put you in this game.”

Kaede thought for a second, before realizing she had a perfect answer.

“I am perfect for a killing game. I don’t have any faith in humanity.”

Kaede kept on the sweet girl facade, internally complimenting herself that that was a brilliant lie that she came up with on the spot

But deep down, if she thought about it that might have been the most truthful Kaede Akamatsu had ever been in her entire life.

* * *

* * *

The days of waiting dragged on and on. She refused to entertain Shuichi about anything concerning Daanganronpa. Ever since she expressed any slight interest in the killing game, he had thought that was her inviting him to talk.

“Wanna come over to watch some, Ouma is coming over and we are going to watch the earlier seasons.”

She side eyed him, looking him up and down before scowling lightly, “sorry but I have already seen all the episodes and am not interested in a rewatch,” she lied quickly.

Instead of the solemn look she was expecting the blue haired boy to have, his eyes lit up in joy.

“Now you must tell me your thoughts of Komahina.”

“That is for me to know and for you to not find out.”

If Kaede had actually looked up Komahina later that night she wouldn’t tell anyone.

* * *

* * *

Weeks had gone by. Weeks. Kaede was beginning to think the show was bogus. That the audition was a fraud. She walked out to the mail once a week, to gather the notices of the rent still not having been paid. The tenant was starting to visit more and more frequently. Her mother’s playing still rattled on.

She furled through the mail before seeing it. A label stating ‘Team Danganronpa.’

Attempting to act as chill as possible, she waltzed back inside, before throwing the other mail onto the pile of papers on the kitchen table that was beginning to scale up past her hips.

Slamming the door shut to her room, she went onto the bed and sat down. Before carefully opening the paper.

Dear Kaede Akamatusu,  
You have been accepted to be part of the cast of the 53rd Danganronpa game.

Kaede hadn’t even bothered to read the rest of the note before sighing in relief. Before finally deciding to scan the rest of the email. It was vague information about legality and papers she would have to fill out, as well as how to accept her invitation.

She got onto her phone and opened mail. Typing out a quick reply to the private email the letter provided her.

Team Danganronpa,  
I would be delighted to be a part of the cast.  
-Kaede Akamatsu

Kaede pressed send and smirked. Before breaking out into a laugh. She was going to be part of a killing game. And, she decided, she was going to live and win to spite them all.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! Alright this is finally finished. I had finally decided to actually write down my headcanons for pre-game characters and this is how the first one turned out. I hope to be able to continue this little series as this was super fun to write. 
> 
> Kaede's mother and her father's names come from a Detective Conan episode. DRV3 includes references to Conan and I wanted to add some sort of referent to it here.
> 
> thank you for reading!
> 
> -elliot<3


End file.
